Forest City Sells Cleveland’s Halle Building for $20M

One of Cleveland’s oldest landmark buildings has changed hands. Forest City Enterprises, Inc. announced at the start of December that it has completed the sale of the Halle Building. The property was acquired by affiliates of K&D Management, LLC, for $20 million.

One of Cleveland’s oldest landmark buildings has changed hands. Forest City Enterprises Inc. announced it completed the sale of the Halle Building at the start of December. The property was acquired by affiliates of K&D Management LLC for $20 million.

The Halle Building is located at 1228 Euclid Ave. in downtown Cleveland. The property was constructed in 1910 and was originally the home of the Halle Brothers upscale department store. It was reconfigured and now features 392,000 square feet of office space and a total of 409,000 square feet of space. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Forest City purchased the former department store in 1986. In a news release, the company said the sale generated net proceeds of approximately $8.3 million. It also added that the new owners plan to convert it into rental apartments, with retail, office and restaurant space on the first two floors. Forest City did not disclose any other details about K&D’s planned project.

On the same day it announced the sale of the Halle Building, Forest City also said it sold a 322-unit independent senior apartment community in Lauderhill, Fla. Pacifica Lauderhill LLC purchased the property, Forest Trace, in a sale that generated net cash proceeds of $18.5 million to Forest City. The buyer also assumed the existing mortgage on the community.

“These sales, which include our last assisted-living apartment community, reflect continued execution of our strategy to narrow the focus of our operating portfolio, monetize non-core assets and use proceeds to further reduce leverage and selectively reinvest in opportunities in core markets,” David LaRue, Forest City’s president & CEO, said in a statement for the press.

Since 2012, Forest City has sold 48 primarily non-core assets, generating cash proceeds of approximately $945.4 million. Over that same period, the Cleveland-based company has reduced total debt by approximately $1.9 billion and annual fixed charges by nearly $300 million.